Korean Job Discussion Forums

cassimira · Joined: 26 Dec 2009 Location: Daeso, South Korea

Hey all,

my boyfriend and I are recent CELTA grads and are currently engaged in a job search focused mostly on South Korea. We are well versed in the problems/ complications that could arise from trying to be placed as a couple, and we also have a few friends who are currently or have previously worked in the country that are looking over any potential contracts for us.

So we feel fairly well prepared...

except that the actual job search itself has us a little bit frustrated! We are already working through a couple of recruitment agencies, but all the advice that we've seen, both here on the forums and in e-mails from our experienced teacher friends suggests that we should also search for jobs independently. Now, we have been doing that both on Dave'sESL's job boards, koreabridge, and a few others..... but all of the ads we've seen are either FROM recruiters.... or PRETEND to be from individual teachers, but are actually recruiters (skeeeetchy!), or are uni positions requiring a few more years experience than we've accumulated so far (which is only 6 hours, to date!)

So I guess my question is, is there something we are missing, or a good site we are overlooking? We'd like to approach this thing from several different ways to increase our chances!!

oh, and please don't ask me to pm you for more details.... I don't have enough posts racked up yet to be able to use that function!!

Thanks ya'll.

Lemon84 · Joined: 07 Sep 2009

I might not be the best person to answer this question as I'm a newbie myself. But you could try this method. Find out bigger hakwon chains(there are plenty mentioned here on this forum) and google their website. They'll mostly be written in Korean, but don't freak out. I remember seeing some of the hakwon sites I went to had a button for foreigners to apply directly. And of course, they were written in Eng.
Good luck!

Zaria32 · Joined: 04 Dec 2007

I just went and looked at jobs on the Korea job board on this site. Although the majority appear to be from recruiters, the first thing to look at in searching for jobs is who posted it?

This is usually on the second line on the ad, in black print. If it says something like "WorknPlay" that's a recruiting company. If it says "Kim's ESL School" it's probably a job posted by the school itself.

Read the ad...if it says something like "we have other opportunities all over Kyungsangbukdo..." then it's probably really a recruiter. If it describes the school, it's probably a school ad.

naturegirl321 · Joined: 18 Jul 2006 Location: Home sweet home

I'm a korean newbie as well, but I can say that I ONLY applied to jobs on Dave's and I avoided recruiters. There are jobs out there.

Really, there are. You just have to look. If you want to avoid recruiters it can be done. I checked the job board daily and applied directly to schools and universities.

Luck is on your side since the school year will be starting soon. Just keep your eyes on the job board and you'll find a good one.

cassimira · Joined: 26 Dec 2009 Location: Daeso, South Korea

zaria, I agree that you have to read the ad carefully... for example, of the 12 ads posted since I was on the board yesterday, only 2 are NOT from recruiters!! ack.

Thanks for the advice folks... I hadn't though about applying to the schools directly, but that makes good sense. A forum search for recommended schools is definitely our next step.

We've been looking at a few recruiters, mostly because they had a few couples positions to offer (which would certainly make our search a little easier!) Unfortunately, the salary offered for most of these jobs seemed on the low end of the scale.... 2.0 million won for 30 teaching hours a week for someone with a CELTA degree? No thanks.

Anyways, if anyone else has any flashes of inspiration or knows of great schools to apply to... we'd be happy to hear about it!

naturegirl321 · Joined: 18 Jul 2006 Location: Home sweet home

Unfortunately, you probably will start at the low end. Pay your dues and then you move up. But I agree 2.0 is low. Try for at least 2.2. And don't discount housing. What you aren't getting paid in salary, you might make up for in free housing.

Also the 30 teaching hours, might be 30 classes of 40 minutes each. And you might teach the same lesson over and over and over again. So that makes it a bit easier.

ddeubel · Joined: 20 Jul 2005

You are right that Job sites should make a much clearer distinction between a recruiter and an direct employer. It would be a win- win situation and I don't know why they don't do it.

For the jobs here, use this page to get Dave's jobs without any recruiters. (thank Korrussian for the genius of this). Hopefully, he'll update it and get out the new recruiters that are appearing now - so it is far from a recruiter free list).

For the moment you can get all the jobs on the web at http://twitter.com/eltjobs. A new format for this which will also show whether a job is a reruiter offered job or not, will be up shortly.

DD
http://eflclassroom.com

cassimira · Joined: 26 Dec 2009 Location: Daeso, South Korea

hmm... thanks for the links, they seem like great ideas.... but they bot appear to be broken! New links up yet?

Sody · Joined: 14 May 2006

Don't forget that sometimes it is in your best interests to get your first job with a recruiter - if you are new to Korea. Most people on these forums will tell you how bad the recruiters are and they would be correct, but one thing I have realized over the years is that if you can't get past all the lies and BS of a recruiter you probably don't have the stomach for all the hardships you will face once you actually start teaching. Consider them a small test on your way to a possibly difficult year.

CPJ · Joined: 30 Dec 2008

This is the dumbest thing I have ever heard! If you're serious about finding a good school to work at then you'd apply to the recruiters as well. Are you looking to choose from 5 job offers or from 20 or 30 job offers? Some of the best jobs that my friends or I have gotten were through recruiters. It's hit or miss. But if you're unable to say no to a recruiter or school then you're probably in for a hard time be it in Korea or wherever you may be from.

ddeubel · Joined: 20 Jul 2005

Sorry about the links.....

The first is definitely broken - I think it is a problem with yahoo pipes. Not a great way to set up the rss. Don't know though.

The second is a typo - http://twitter.com/eltjobs is correct.

Cheers, happy hunting,

DD
http://eflclassroom.com

cassimira · Joined: 26 Dec 2009 Location: Daeso, South Korea

Thanks for the link update! That definitely helps. As to some of the other responses... I believe that I stated in my original post that we were already working with recruiters... we're just trying to, as advised... cast the net wide as possible, and not limit ourselves to only recruiters.! I think we've pretty much got a system worked out... we're working through 3 different recruiters and have also responded directly to several schools.... now its just a matter of interviewing, waiting for responses, applying to more places, interviewing again, etc....

Thanks for the help again, everyone!

joltaxt · Joined: 24 Oct 2009 Location: Seoul

Simply put, I don't think you're looking hard enough.

I applied to plenty of jobs on this site through recruiters and the schools themselves, and ended up getting a job where I applied directly through the school. I definitely preferred applying straight to the school over working with recruiters.

The jobs are there, I'm living proof. Just look harder in all honesty.

joltaxt · Joined: 24 Oct 2009 Location: Seoul

sugarkane59 · Joined: 10 Jun 2009 Location: Seoul